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rikkor on "Election Etiquette"http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14482
Sat, 29 May 2010 13:40:11 +0000rikkor14482@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/<p>This reminds me of the worst excesses of the French Revolution, but, so many things do.
</p>Scroat on "Election Etiquette"http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14479
Sat, 29 May 2010 11:48:39 +0000Scroat14479@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/<p>Technically the presiding officer (if that is who she was) was within her rights to ensure that each of you used the ballot paper allocated to you. It's all about having a system that is totally accountable and above board. However, having discussed this with my own in-house presiding officer, we decided that we wouldn't have bothered to raise it as you were a family group.</p>
<p>She didn't want to see how you voted, just make sure the numbers tallied.
</p>rikkor on "Election Etiquette"http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14440
Fri, 28 May 2010 22:41:24 +0000rikkor14440@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/<p>In this country, the polling stations are manned (woman-ed, actually) by 85 year-old biddies who have nothing else to do. When I moved back to Boston (unwillingly) and voted in a primary, the polling woman screamed out to all and sundry that I had asked for a Republican voting slip and never stopped talking about it until I left. (Having voted Democrat since Roosevelt in 1932, she could admit no reason to vote otherwise.) You would have to explain Boston to people who are not from here. I just chalked it up to experience.
</p>Scroat on "Election Etiquette"http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14353
Fri, 28 May 2010 10:23:38 +0000Scroat14353@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/<p>If the woman was not the presiding officer or the poll clerk, she had no right to interfere. Having manned a polling station at the election with Mrs Scroat, we ensured that people voted in private and then put it straight into the shredder - sorry, box thingy.</p>
<p>If she was a teller, she should have been doing this outside the polling station.
</p>andhrimnir on "Election Etiquette"http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14349
Fri, 28 May 2010 10:07:42 +0000andhrimnir14349@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/<p>both the voting slips and the counterfoils are sealed and destroyed after 12 months. They can only be opened following a high court order or an order from the house of Lords (and probably by the secret service).<br />
Reasons for opening:<br />
1) as a check if the process was called into question (as if you would remember the "no more than 5" people you voted for if you were part of the sample!)<br />
2) to track you down had you written something offensive or threatening<br />
3) to flush out communists
</p>MrChigleysAunt on "Election Etiquette"http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14348
Fri, 28 May 2010 09:57:38 +0000MrChigleysAunt14348@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/<p>Well, yes, but I guess it's to help stop someone voting on your behalf. You may be ok with someone in your immediate family using your voting slip - but what if somehow a complete stranger used it? I don't know, but I suspect this is a case where measures that seem reasonable to prevent fraud could potentially be used to restrict freedom.
</p>wallster on "Election Etiquette"http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14345
Fri, 28 May 2010 09:32:58 +0000wallster14345@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/<p>I'm uncomfortable with this. It's all rather reminiscent of Big Brother (the book not the TV show; I didn't get my tits out in the polling station with an eye on a photo shoot in the June edition of Nuts magazine).</p>
<p>I can't see how we could have invalidated our votes by swapping papers. We were checked out as valid voters &amp; they handed us 3 official voting slips.</p>
<p>Does it really matter which one I put my X's on? Maybe I should have challenged Gestapo woman to explain her interest. </p>
<p>This is the start of the slippery slope towards state control, my friends.
</p>MrChigleysAunt on "Election Etiquette"http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14324
Fri, 28 May 2010 07:45:27 +0000MrChigleysAunt14324@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/<p>Not sure. We never have had a truly secret vote. If someone really wanted to find out how you voted, they could - by matching you up the number on the voting slip. I've heard that the Government actually did this some time in the 60s to identify communist voters but I don't know if that's true or just an urban myth. And, if it's true, I don't know whether it was legal or illegal.<br />
I guess that, technically, by swapping ballot papers, your votes were invalid (unless, by chance you happened to end up with your own again). So I suspect that 'they' have a right to check that you are not voting on someone else's behalf.<br />
Given that your vote is never truly secret, it's a good idea to vote for governments who respect human rights. That's one of the main reasons I'm pleased that the Labour govt has gone.
</p>wallster on "Election Etiquette"http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14321
Fri, 28 May 2010 07:20:47 +0000wallster14321@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/<p>We had to go and vote again yesterday for local councillors or somesuch. Me, Mrs Wallster and Wallster Jr who has recently turned 18.</p>
<p>Once we'd given our names and address (we don't take the polling cards with our ID numbers, that would be too easy for them), they looked us up on their list and wrote our ID numbers on the ticket stub in their book of voting slips and handed us each the corresponding voting slip.</p>
<p>Now, the anarchist in me decided that they should not be able to find out how I voted, so we all 3 swapped papers a few times to ensure they couldn't know which voting slip each of us were using.</p>
<p>We then went to our respective voting booth, placed crosses against 'no more than 5 candidates'(!) folded the papers and turned to place them in the box.</p>
<p>However standing before the box, and effectively blocking our way, was a large and rather scary middle aged woman who insisted we show her the numbers on the back of our voting slips so she could update her list to ensure they knew which vosting slip each of us had used.</p>
<p>My anarchic streak had gone flaccid by this point and I meekly rolled over and gave her the number; which she duly noted.</p>
<p>Now, did she have a right to do this? Do I have a right to keep my voting habits secret? What's the point of those little voting cubicles if none of it's private anyway?</p>
<p>Anybody know whether we are actually entitled to a secret vote or am I lining myself up for a trip to the Gulag by being difficult?</p>
<p>Just thought I'd ask.
</p>